Knights and Dreamers

Chapter 4

There’s no time to consider the implications of our knight possibly smiling. Before we get even a handful of titanic steps away from the recycling facility, we know we’re not getting away without a fight. We feel it before we see anything; that telltale sensation of static on our skin that precedes the use of teleportation magic. 

Appearing before us is a massive rune circle on the ground that lights up the air above it, blinding us to the arrival of a familiar looking knight. I momentarily get distracted by an old school lesson about teleportation circles. They’re so bright because apparently watching something appear or disappear instantly can be jarring on some minds. 

Juliet’s amused laughter draws me back to the moment as we square up against Cobalt Blitz, or CB as we often referred to them. I’d always found the name rather silly. Like something a young boy would choose, rather than an actual name. They’re piloted by some old friends of ours, Lucian and Edgar Brightstone. The two men were the pair from the capital that got bonded during our ceremony all those years back. Despite the rough early days, we’d actually become friends in the academy after a while. I was actually Lucian’s best man at their wedding. 

“Halt!” intones the voice of Cobalt Blitz, their voice is like a mixing of both Lucian’s and Edgar’s, a trait that all Knights bar Sylvia possessed. She sounds like a mix of Juliet and some other woman. Yet another thing the Archmage has always been curious about.

The two of us don’t even need a moment to discuss as we pick up the pace. “Sorry boys, but we’ve got a date with the Archmage,” we announce as we bring our shield up to knock the large blue war machine aside. 

Credit where it’s due, Lucian and Edgar are skilled Dreamers in their own right. They dodge to our sword arm side and raise their massive two-handed morningstar over their head. If we get hit by that thing, we’re toast. No self repairing magic will bring Sylvia back from that. Fortunately, we have an advantage that most monsters who faced CB lacked: years of experience training alongside them. 

We duck in low and drop our sword before hooking our arm around CB’s forward leg. We rise up, pulling their leg with us and dropping them on their metallic ass. Juliet’s giggling like a mad woman as we quickly go to kick their weapon out of their hands. Fights between Knights only occur during practice and are generally quick little spars. It’s a totally different skill set that despite our enemies only being monsters of wildly varying shapes and sizes, we still were drilled on regularly. 

****

“Good sweep kids,” Sorn complimented Juliet and myself as we had easily knocked Lucian and Edgar’s Squire off their feet, following it up with a swift kick to their side. Sorn was one of the Masters of Arms at the Fields, the other being their partner Vee. They were retired Dreamers who had decided to stick around and help train future generations. So the enby veteran’s praise filled me with pride I wasn’t used to feeling. 

Things had been better since Juliet and I had first awoken Sylvia. My partner had quickly changed her opinion of me and we had grown close immediately. Honestly it was hard not to once we experienced the full bonding. Once word got out that our bond was strong, amazingly strong in fact, the torment that I had been suffering started to mostly die down.

When we had the initial test with the High Smith, the emotional connection was lacking a key piece, but when we awoke Sylvia, it all clicked. We were meant to be partners and there was no denying it. Understanding it was still difficult, but so long as we didn’t address the elephant in the room of my gender, both of us were pretty happy. 

“Park your Knights and meet us in the classroom please,” Vee instructed after a few more exchanges of blows with our sparring partners. 

As we approached the classroom, Lucian stomped up to us with a look of distaste in his eyes. “What the hell was that?” he demanded while Edgar cringed from behind him. 

“What was what?” Juliet demanded, already getting all up in his face. 

“You kicked us while we were down!” he snapped. 

“Yeah, and?” He quickly got more angry as Juliet smirked at him.

“It’s dishonorable!” he argued, his face turning red.

“Winning is more important,” I muttered. Dad had always told me that honor was for duelists and prize fighters. In a real fight, whether it be with crooks on the street or monsters from the Underlands, winning is all that matters. 

Lucian sputtered as he tried to make a retort, but he was interrupted as Vee and Sorn arrived. The two looked like polar opposites. While Sorn was tall and willowy with long dark hair that looked like it absorbed all light, Vee was short with thick limbs with a mop of unruly red frizz on their head. Stereotypes would have you believe that Sorn being all tall and sharp angles was the severe and serious one, but they were more rowdy and rambunctious according to the rumors around the training facility. Meanwhile, Vee tended to be more polite or quiet by comparison. 

“Young Gordon is correct,” the short enby stated in a calm voice. “The monsters you will face will have no compunctions about tearing you apart while you’re on the ground.” Their lips twisted up in a slightly unnerving smile. “So you must learn to expect no quarter and to give none in return. It is us or them.” 

“Here here!” Sorn cheered. “Gods be damned, you got me all nostalgic Vee. I’m wishing we still had our knight and could knock heads with these kiddos!”

“I as well,” Vee sighed in response.

It was a well known fact that a Heartstone that had been awoken in a Knight became unstable after several decades in service and had to be recycled. This resulted in most Dreamers retiring between the ages of forty and fifty. 

“Ah… uh….” Lucian was at a loss for words. Edgar reached up and tapped him on the shoulder before pulling him down to whisper in his ear. As the two pull apart, Lucian seems suitably chastised by his partner.

While Juliet had quickly come around to me as her partner, some of the others, Lucian included, still saw me as an aberration. They also resented us for the special treatment we received from the Archmage. No other trainee received personal attention from our illustrious leader. 

“We gonna go into the classroom, or are we just gonna keep standing around like a bunch of slack jawed lollygaggers?” Sorn asked as they pushed into the classroom. The rest of us snapped out of the little tiff that we were having and quickly filed into the room and took our seats.

The two other pairs from our ceremony were waiting for us there. I was ashamed to admit I never bothered learning their names until Juliet started spending her meals with me and as a side effect, the others socialized a bit more with me, even if they were still reluctant. 

Bonnie and Claudia were often quite prickly with me. I think they were jealous that I was bonded with Juliet since they both found her attractive. If I wasn’t in the picture, I’m sure they’d have tried to form a polycule with my partner. 

Claudia was from that area with a pronounced local accent. She was full of hometown slang and colloquialisms. I really hoped we could work out our differences and become friends since I honestly liked listening to her talk. She sounded so beautiful that I often lamented that I couldn't sound like her. She even would sing sometimes to provide a little entertainment during meals. I often admired her bouncy blonde hair that hung in loose ringlets, something that she took offense to. I couldn’t help myself unless Juliet was around. With my partner present, I could focus entirely on her, but I’d always had a bad habit of staring at girls. 

While her partner was all country charm, Bonnie grew up in a mining town and had the sort of rough and tumble demeanor that went with that. She didn’t have much patience for nonsense unless it was Claudia’s nonsense. She spoke rarely, but when she did, her words had an impact. She once caught me staring and she flipped me the bird before storming off. It was hard not to though, she had a different sort of beauty to either Claudia or Juliet. My partner was cute and radiant, caring and a little aggressive, Claudia was bubbly and charming, but Bonnie was all dark, simmering passion that could be a little scary at times when she lashed out. Fortunately Claudia tended to mellow her out when she was around. 

Hollis and Tegan were the enbies and they were by far the nicest to me once they saw my bonding wasn’t a fluke. They didn’t need much convincing to hang out with me and Juliet most of the time and we were quickly becoming friends. The two of them were both laid back and very easy to get along with. 

The two of them were practically cut from the same cloth. They both looked similar with brown hair and greenish brown eyes. If it weren’t for the fact that Tegan was super pale while Hollis was a nutty brown color, you might have assumed they were siblings given their near identical builds. They even had mostly the same personality, though Hollis was big into music, often playing their guitar, and Tegan spent most of their time baking.

After the other Dreamers got their Squires, the Archmage had decided that we would take our combat classes with the rest of the group as he admittedly wasn’t well versed in the actual techniques we used. The structure would often follow the same pattern. We’d learn some theory, head out to the training grounds to test it out on each other, then we’d return to the classroom to discuss it further. 

So once we all were settled, Vee and Sorn began going over the various notes they had made on our performance. “What could Edgar and Lucian have done to avoid being kicked while they were down?” Sorn asked the class.

“They could’ve avoided going down in the first place,” Tegan teased. The class snickered a bit except for the boys in question and myself.

“Sure, but that’s not always an option,” Sorn retorted. “What else could they have done?”

I put up my hand, causing the class to titter in amusement. “Gordon, what have I said about raising your hand?” I winced at Sorn’s admonishment. 

“Not to bother?” I sighed. 

“Right, but what’s your take on the fight? What could the boys have done better?”

“They could’ve rolled out of the way of the kicks, making us over extend and getting an opportunity to get up and counter attack,” I offered, hoping I wasn’t wrong.

“Listen to Gordon students,” Vee stated. “He’s got a good tactical head on his shoulders as we have seen in the sparring matches and scenario simulations.” I winced at the attention, though I did notice people seemed to be looking at me with something almost akin to respect. 

****

Cobalt Blitz rolls to the side and jumps to their feet before we can get their weapon out of their hands. “Stand down Juliet!” they order us. “We don’t want to fight, but you’re going to get yourself killed if you keep piloting alone!”

Juliet smirks, and Sylvia’s face changes to mirror it. “But, that’s where you’re wrong!” she shouts back. “I’m not alone and never will be!” she announces with what can only be pride. “Gordon’s soul is inside me!” 

The subtle shift in posture of Cobalt Blitz would be imperceptible to most, but we recognize it for what it is, hesitation. “That’s not possible!” our opponents call out. 

“That’s not your call to make!” we both argue as we recall our sword to our hand. 

“You’re right,” interjects a familiar voice over the crystal communications array. “It’s mine.” The Archmage sounds tired, but also curious. “I’ve been monitoring the situation and I must say, the readings coming out of Knight Sylvia are quite interesting.” 

We recognize that giddy eagerness from our training days, and Juliet rolls her eyes extra hard as we both express our exasperation. 

“So all of you will stand down and stand by for transportation.” The Archmage effectively ends the fight much to our relief. We don’t relish having to fight our friends. “I truly hope you are correct Juliet, as I feel it will be another piece in the puzzle that is you and Gordon’s bond.”

Brilliant runes identical to the ones that brought Cobalt Blitz to our location form around both Knights. In a flash we’re both back in the main hangar at The Fields. 

“Don’t go anywhere,” the Archmage instructs. “I’ll be right down!”

“Well,” Juliet muses as we put Sylvia back to sleep. “That could’ve gone worse.”

Just as Juliet says the most cursed of words, reality rises to make a liar of  her. Familiar alarms begin to blare all around us. We know what they mean. A monster from the Underlands has been spotted.

“You just had to say something, didn’t you,” I grumble.

End Chapter 4